Rumour: Microsoft to allow third-party hardware to play 360 games

So someone may make a 360 that doesn’t outdo my vacuum cleaner in the noise stakes?

I don’t think it’s so far fetched, tbh. Microsoft have proven quite crap at building reliable, top-quality hardware at a price which doesn’t lose them money. Get someone else to take the hit and claim a license fee, then they still get all the license money from the game sales.

They could get people to build 360-compatibility into their Blu-Ray players. OMGMEGATON!

Sega was going to do all this with Dreamcast and Pace set-top boxes, innit. I guess it’s more viable now. It would actually be really cool, I reckon.

Kotaku’s mock-up is exactly what I want my consoles to look like. Quite why nobody’s caught on to that idea yet, I have no idea.

Yep, agree. And no, I don’t understand either.

Good idea, I think.

Sounds like a great idea to me and if this is the surprising news that’s been mentioned for E3 it really is just that.

It’d be genuinely exciting if they announced it and showed new, 360 game-playing hardware at the show.

There’ve been plenty of rumours flying around about a Blu-Ray add-on, but Microsoft have consistently said they’re not doing one. Maybe *they’re* not doing one, but…

This is my favourite rumour in ages. One step closer to that mythical “one console format, lots of people building it” ideal.

Anyone remember the 3D0 card for PC?

I don’t reckon the Blu-ray thing’s true. I won’t believe that until it’s announced, to be honest. The add-on, I mean.

I remember the Sega Mega-PC.

Edit: Sorry, *Amstrad* Mega-PC.

Make it a PC VM that can play 360 games with no tearing, full v synch and framerates locked and I’ll kiss Bill Gates’ snecky snatch.

The re-birth of the 3D0, fingers-crossed.

I wonder if this might be the solution to their hardware problems in Japan?

Why does no one here thinks this is bollocks ???

The whole business-model for console hardware is only profitable (if ever) because M$ and Sony can subsidise it with income by game-sales.

How should a third-party make real money off a console hardware ???

Extra sales of their particular model of Blu-Ray Player/Set-Top Box/Toaster because it includes gaming tech? The ability to produce the hardware cheaper than Microsoft because they’re already electronics giants? Being offered a cut of the software license cash?

I dunno. Why did Panasonic make the Q? There must be *something* in it for the third parties.

@ Blerk
Maybe very late into the life-cycle of a console, it is a possibility.
But never in the first 2-3 years after launch!

The Q launched in the Gamecube’s first year, didn’t it?

@ Blerk
I don’t know when the “Q” launched.
But wasn’t the original cube also manufactured by Panasonic?

Plus: I never regarded big N’s hardware as “next-gen” consoles from a technological standpoint. So, you may not compare it with PS3 or the 360.

Quiiick: Microsoft is into the stage that they’re making profits on the hardware as well as the software. It’s at that point they can farm it out to other manufacturers who can make profits too (or increase their margins by charging more for something like blu-ray, silent machines, smaller form factor etc).

Could be an interesting way to try to make in-roads into Japan, too.

@ Psychotext
What I heard is that Microsoft are making profits in the “Games/Entertainment/ 360″ Division which includes game-sales, XBL-subscriptions and peripherals.
They’re still loosing money on the 360-hardware alone afaik.

@ Blerk
Quote: “Could be an interesting way to try to make in-roads into Japan, too.”

Why would third-party hardware which play 360-games be “a way to make in-roads into Japan” ???

What’s the benefit?

Well, one of the main reasons that’s always brought up for the Japanese not liking the 360 is that it’s big and noisy. A smaller, quieter machine made by a Japanese manufacturer could potentially be more appealing. Or not. It certainly couldn’t be any less appealing.

Quiiick: That division contains all sorts of things outside of gaming so you can’t really look at it from that point of view. Put it this way, the machine has had a $50 price drop since its release in the US nearly 3 years ago… if they aren’t making money on the hardware now something is very, very wrong.

I’m sure isupply have an analysis somewhere but I can’t find it. All I can find is some comment on it:

“When iSuppli tore down an Xbox 360 around this time last year, the firm estimated that Microsoft was losing $126 on each 360 sold. Microsoft is whistling a much happier tune now. Revised component costs for the Xbox 360 indicate that costs have dropped to the point where each $399 Xbox 360 sold costs $323.30 to make—leaving Microsoft $75.70 in the black on each system, before marketing and other costs are figured into the equation.”

Found it… it’s in a table half way down the page:
http://www.isuppli.com/news/default.asp?id=6919

@ Blerk
Good point!

@ Psychotext
Thanks for the info!

So… Sony could build 360 compatibility in to a future model of the PS3?

That’d be the £800 model, obviously.

I just thought of a dampener for the ‘Blu-Ray player with 360 compatibility built-in’ idea – how fast do Blu-Ray drives spin DVDs?

There’s multiformat BR drives that can handle 6x BR and 16x DVD now.

Ah! That’ll do nicely, then. I suddenly had a thought that they might only do slow speeds due to DVD movies only needing slow speeds.

@ ecu
Quote: “So… Sony could build 360 compatibility in to a future model of the PS3?”
NO! Sony would never want to do that because they would not get any royalties off of 360-games. This would cannibalize their income from game-sales.

360 Fanboy’s Microsoft Conference Bingo results reminded me that this one turned out to be complete bunk, too. Who starts these rumours? I think we should start some of our own next year.